Once An Eagle by Anton Myrer

I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.

      Once An Eagle:  The Miniseries

Once An Eagle, the miniseries, is a story of epic proportions and spans both World Wars.  It is told through the lives of two career soldiers:  the brave and compassionate Sam Damon and the ambitious and ruthless Courtney Massengale.  At the end of World War I, both men choose wives as different as themselves.  For Damon, it is Tommy, the free-spirited daughter of a career army staff officer.  In Emily, Massengale finds all the qualities he has dreamed of, namely, social connections and money.  They also choose vastly different career paths.  Damon remains an infantry commander, a leader of men.  Massengale seeks only to control armies, and is oblivious to the men who comprise them.  Friendly at first, at least on the surface, these two men inevitably face off in a life-and-death struggle that becomes a classic battle of good versus evil.

This nine-hour television miniseries was spawned by Once An Eagle, the novel by Anton Myrer.  It was shown on NBC beginning in December of 1976 and has inexplicably been on the shelf ever since.  It stars Sam Elliot (as Sam Damon), Glenn Ford (as General George Caldwell), Darlene Carr (as Tommy Caldwell Damon), Cliff Potts (as Courtney Massengale), and Amy Irving (as Emily Massengale.  Other very recognizable actors in the miniseries include:  Ralph Bellamy, James Cromwell, Andrew Duggan, Lynda Day George, Melanie Griffith, Clu Gulager, Robert Hogan, John Saxon, Andrew Stevens, David Wayne, William Windom, and Anthony Zerbe.

Miniseries Director of Photography, J. J. Jones, received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Cinematography.  Darlene Carr earned a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Supporting Actress.   

If you would like to see this important dramatic work released on DVD, send an email to:

giveustheminiseries@once-an-eagle.com

and tell us why!

Here are four of the stars of Once An Eagle, the miniseries:

Sam Elliot as Sam Damon	Cliff Potts as Courtney Massengale
Darlene Carr as Tommy Caldwell Damon	Glenn Ford as General George Caldwell

Go To the O-A-E Scene-by-Scene Narrative Summary Now

Go To the O-A-E Film Credits Now